In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Victoria Sanders and Molly Robertson. Sanders is a research analyst at the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, and Robertson works at Resources for the Future as a research associate. They discuss a recent report that Sanders and Robertson have published alongside coauthors about the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, a 2019 law in New York State that aims to achieve net-zero emissions and specifies that at least 35 percent of the benefits should go toward disadvantaged communities. Sanders and Robertson describe the role of environmental justice communities and advocacy groups in the development and implementation of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, options for implementing the law, and how these implementation options are projected to affect greenhouse gas emissions and air quality in specific communities.

References and recommendations:

“Prioritizing Justice in New York State Climate Policy: Cleaner Air for Disadvantaged Communities?” by Alan Krupnick, Molly Robertson, Wesley Look, Eddie Bautista, Victoria Sanders, Eunice Ko, Dan Shawhan, Joshua Linn, Miguel Jaller, Narasimha Rao, Miguel Poblete Cazenave, Yang Zhang, Kai Chen, and Pin Wang; https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/environmental-justice-communities-new-york-state-climate-policy-clcpa/

“Broken Ground” podcast; https://brokengroundpodcast.org/

“Never Out of Season: How Having the Food We Want When We Want It Threatens Our Food Supply and Our Future” by Rob Dunn; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/rob-dunn/never-out-of-season/9780316260695